news and opinion from Israel

This picture of teenage settlers at the “House of Contention” in Hebron was taken by Tess Scheflan from Haaretz. The kid on the left is wearing a Beitar Jerusalem scarf. Beitar’s fans take pride in their racism. The fan’s forums are full of racist and anti Arab comments, and “death to Arabs” shouts are very common at the team’s games. one of the reasons the Israeli national team doesn’t play often at Jerusalem’s excellent stadium is because the crowd there boos the team’s Arab players.

It is not the first time Beitar fans are involved in non-football-related attacks on Arabs. A few months ago a security camera in a north Jerusalem mall caught these images, of a planned attack and stabbing of an Arab. As you can see, some of the attackers wear Beitar Jerusalems shirts.